The Shellal Mosaic in the Australian War Memorial : style and imagery

Abstract

The so-called "Shellal mosaic", at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, is the floor of a sixth century, Byzantine church, discovered in the western Negev area of what is Israel. It is one of many such mosaic pavements dating from the fourth to the sixth century A.D, scattered around the Mediterranean area. A large concentration of such pavements, bearing very similar designs of birds and animals on a ground of a vine trellis issuing from an amphora, are found in Palestine. These all be dated, by inscription or by archaeological can means, to within the early Byzantine period, between about 515 and 575 A.D. Many fall directly within the period of rule of Justinian (527-565 A.D): the Shellal floor, dated to 561-2, is one of these. The fact that almost identical designs are found in early Christian churches, as well as in synagogues and private houses, raises the question as to whether they carry iconographic meaning or whether they are purely decorative continuations of earlier pagan artistic tradition.